Tax Tip

Tax season is comming to a close quickly with only 19 days left to file. In the mad rush to find a preparer make sure they are CTECH certified because that is California Law. Also pay attention to the question they are asking you. I've heard of some places asking you extensive questions about your different bank accounts and their balances. They tell you they ask these questions to figure out how much your interest income is. If you have interest income from your bank, your baml will send you a 1099-int. There is no reason why your preparer needs to know how many bank accounts you have and what their balances are. The only questions they should be asking you is if you have authority over a foreign bank account or trust. If your getting your refund deposited into your account than they will need to know your institutions name, routing number and account number, but never should they need to know the balance in your account. I had a customer inform me that she went to a notary last year to have her taxes done and the lady asked her all kind of questions about her accounts and how much she had in them. Also make sure all of your questions are answered. If you want to e-file make sure you ask them if e-filing is available at the location you are using. This also happened to a customer. She asked if they would e-file their taxes and the preperer said yes but after her taxes were prepared and she had paid the fees the preparer handed her her forms and said all she had to do now was mail them in. So do make sure that the preparer is listening to your questions and taking them seriously. Also this is the last year to claim energy star improvements on your home as well as claiming the special credit for new vehicles (cars, trucks, motorcycles, motorhomes, boats) purchased between feb 2009 and before Jan 1 2010. Good Luck and happy, painless tax season to you all.